The Room with All the Doors

"Literally anything is possible here..."

Writer: James Goss

Format: Short Story

Released: June 2015

Printed in: The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who

Featuring: Second Doctor

Synopsis

The Second Doctor, amidst doing battle with the Ice Warriors on the Moon, is pulled into the Multivarium. Endless possibilities lie behind a number of doors, and the only help he has is from a mysterious stranger that isn't giving much away...

Verdict

The Room With All the Doors was a fascinating little continuation of The Scientific Secrets of Doctor Who! I am finding the stories rather unique and this one was no different as it was an incredibly rare solo outing for the Second Doctor. That almost never happens so that itself was enjoyable enough, especially with the characterisation of Patrick Troughton's incarnation being done so well. The description of his appearance was also terrific despite it being described hundreds of times in the past in other stories. It was just good to capture this particular Doctor perfectly and he was well suited to the story at hand. When it was obvious from the start that the adventure was going to be told from the first person, I was a little sceptical at first because I don't often tend to enjoy that, particularly if it is from the perspective of a character I have never been introduced to before. However, the fact that we didn't end up learning anything about this narrator made things better. It was just nice, for once, to not know everything that was going on and see the Doctor's interaction with a total stranger. Even as the story continued to be told, there was no sign at all that we would learn anything more about him or her. Or it? Who knows. The Multivarium was a fascinating setting and a concept I could fully get behind as I do enjoy the idea of the Multiverse and existing with slight differences that become incredibly noticeable. It just has so much potential and this one was no different. It was a little bit of a shame that we didn't get too much of a description concerning what was actually behind the infinite number of doors, but my interest was there and it was intriguing that whilst aware of time and how long had passed, its impact wasn't being felt by the Doctor nor whoever the narrator was. They didn't need to eat or sleep or anything like that. It was an endless cycle but one the Doctor seemed quite intent on getting out of. He had a method and it involved a number of doodles on the draws which worked well and I loved how he was able to use following the rules against the system. By doing exactly that, he was able to break them. By virtue of this being a kind of Multiverse, there just had to be a door where on the other side there was a way out. It was common logic and I really enjoyed that. His explanations to his comrade in trouble with him worked well, but still we couldn't really get any answers out of him/her that would help identify the mysterious (I assume) humanoid. The Doctor recalling how he had been pulled out of doing battle with the Ice Warriors on the Moon with Jamie and Zoe was lovely and a terrific reference to The Seeds of Death. Just when would he have popped off for this adventure by opening a door? I'm not usually a huge fan of ambiguity, but I liked how this short story ended with them finding what the Doctor presumed was the door with the way out and they'd soon find out if they would make it. As a reader, we were quickly led onto a discussion concerning the scientific likelihood of the Multiverse, but I didn't have time for that. I am just here for the stories and for now, this was a lovely and intriguing little tale for the Second Doctor.

Rating: 8/10